Jan 7, 2017, 4:18 pm
Last edit by: mia
Referrals and self-referrals are an important part of maximizing rewards from Canadian-issued American Express cards. It is appropriate to discuss how the referral process works in this thread. However, please do not offer or request referrals here. Use only this thread, and do read the Wikipost carefully before posting: Referral Offers (post only in this thread, no referral links, read Wiki post first).
This thread is a continuation of: Churning Amex in Canada (2016). All the listed offers below are still valid as of January 2017.
Jerry: Aug 2017 latest update, all-in-one summary
New as of Mar 23, 2017, minimum spend up to $3000 now
AMEX Platinum Rewards - $699/year, 60K MR (via referral) after $3000 spending in 3 months vs. 50K non-referral
New as of March 23 2016.
AMEX Business Platinum Rewards - $399/year, 75K MR (via referral) after $5000 spending in 3 months vs. 40K non-referral
Updated as of July 21, 2017
AMEX Gold Rewards - $150/year, FYF, 25K MR after $1500 spending + $50/$60 cashback from GCR. New as of Jan 15, 2017, on a referred signup: and an additional 5,000 Membership Rewards points for one approved Supplementary Card added to your account at time of online application. That’s a total of 30,000 Membership Rewards points.
AMEX Business Gold Rewards - $250/year, FYF, 30K MR after $5000 spending (or 40K via referral)
AMEX Air Miles Platinum - $65/year, 2000 Air Miles after $1500 spending + $30 GCR cashback
July 18-Oct 18, 2017 - welcome offer increased 5K to 25K.
Sep 28, 2017 - Personal and Business SPG bonus drops from 10K to 5K per approved referral.
AMEX SPG - $120/year, 25K SPG after $1500 spending + $30 GCR cashback
- if you applied recently for the SPG card at the 20K welcome level, try contacting Amex by Secured Message to ask if they can match the current 25K offer. Several successful datapoints have surfaced with manual addition of 5K at next statement. YMMV.
New as of July 2016
AMEX Aeroplan Plus Platinum - $499/year, 50K Aeroplans after $1000 spending in 3 months (or 51K via referral). The 50K/51K, extra 10K promo expired on April 01, 2016, but started up again July - Sep 30th, 2016.
New card as of Sep 25 2017
AMEX Cobalt CREDIT card - $10/month ($120 annually)
Apply through GCR for $50 Rebate https://www.greatcanadianrebates.ca/...s/Amex-Cobalt/
This is not an all-inclusive list, only the "good" offers, so feel free to add new offers.
AMEX Platinum Rewards
- Earn 15K MR for each referral you make
(Note: from Mar 23 - Jun 29 the bonuses were 75K welcome and 25K referral points)
AMEX Business Platinum Rewards
- Earn 25K MR for each referral you make
AMEX Gold Rewards
- Earn 10k MR for each referal you make.
This thread is a continuation of: Churning Amex in Canada (2016). All the listed offers below are still valid as of January 2017.
Jerry: Aug 2017 latest update, all-in-one summary
New as of Mar 23, 2017, minimum spend up to $3000 now
AMEX Platinum Rewards - $699/year, 60K MR (via referral) after $3000 spending in 3 months vs. 50K non-referral
New as of March 23 2016.
AMEX Business Platinum Rewards - $399/year, 75K MR (via referral) after $5000 spending in 3 months vs. 40K non-referral
Updated as of July 21, 2017
AMEX Gold Rewards - $150/year, FYF, 25K MR after $1500 spending + $50/$60 cashback from GCR. New as of Jan 15, 2017, on a referred signup: and an additional 5,000 Membership Rewards points for one approved Supplementary Card added to your account at time of online application. That’s a total of 30,000 Membership Rewards points.
- July 11, 2017, Amex Gold MR will no longer earn referral points.
- July 21, 2017, no other Amex MR card can refer to Gold MR
AMEX Business Gold Rewards - $250/year, FYF, 30K MR after $5000 spending (or 40K via referral)
AMEX Air Miles Platinum - $65/year, 2000 Air Miles after $1500 spending + $30 GCR cashback
July 18-Oct 18, 2017 - welcome offer increased 5K to 25K.
Sep 28, 2017 - Personal and Business SPG bonus drops from 10K to 5K per approved referral.
AMEX SPG - $120/year, 25K SPG after $1500 spending + $30 GCR cashback
- if you applied recently for the SPG card at the 20K welcome level, try contacting Amex by Secured Message to ask if they can match the current 25K offer. Several successful datapoints have surfaced with manual addition of 5K at next statement. YMMV.
New as of July 2016
AMEX Aeroplan Plus Platinum - $499/year, 50K Aeroplans after $1000 spending in 3 months (or 51K via referral). The 50K/51K, extra 10K promo expired on April 01, 2016, but started up again July - Sep 30th, 2016.
New card as of Sep 25 2017
AMEX Cobalt CREDIT card - $10/month ($120 annually)
Apply through GCR for $50 Rebate https://www.greatcanadianrebates.ca/...s/Amex-Cobalt/
- Earn 2,500 Membership Tiered Rewards points for each month where you spend $500 (up to 30,000/year).
- Limited Time Offer: Apply by Jan 30, 2018 and you can earn a Welcome Bonus of 10,000 Membership Rewards® points after spending $3K in 3 months.
- See discussion thread for more details: 2017 American Express Cobalt (Canada)
This is not an all-inclusive list, only the "good" offers, so feel free to add new offers.
Referral Difference Between Cards:
Please note there is a maximum annual referral bonus you can make per card.
AMEX Platinum Rewards
- Earn 15K MR for each referral you make
(Note: from Mar 23 - Jun 29 the bonuses were 75K welcome and 25K referral points)
AMEX Business Platinum Rewards
- Earn 25K MR for each referral you make
AMEX Gold Rewards
- July 11, 2017, Amex Gold MR will no longer earn referral points.
- July 21, 2017, no other Amex MR card can refer to Gold MR
- mid-May 2016, increased from $500 to $1500 required spending.
- Jan 11 to mid-May 2016, the Gold card earned 0 referral points.
- Earn 10k MR for each referal you make.
American Express Canada application and reward strategies (2017)
Aug 7, 2017, 11:11 am
#871
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: YUL
Programs: Aeroplan
Posts: 107
Has anyone received the 5K bonus for adding a supplemental cardholder to the personal gold card? If so, did you get it at the same time as the 25K sign-up bonus or was it credited separately? I just got my 25K when I hit the minimum spend, but no sign of the extra 5K yet.
Aug 7, 2017, 11:30 am
#872
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Prince Edward Island
Programs: Air Canada P25K, Hilton Honors Gold, Marriott Gold, MGM Gold
Posts: 1,582
Aug 8, 2017, 8:48 pm
#873
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: London / Los Angeles
Programs: Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond Ambassador, Marriott Platinum, Hyatt Globalist, BA Silver
Posts: 1,631
I tried to cancel my personal Platinum Charge card today because the annual fee is due soon. I have a credit on my account of roughly $150 from the annual travel credit. After a long hold, I was told that I would not be able to get that $150 refunded if I cancelled the card. The agent said something along the lines of "when you cancel, the $200 travel credit is owed back to Amex if you have already used it"
I said to hold on cancelling the card for now. If I spend the $150 normally and then call back to cancel when I have a zero balance, will they still say I owe them $200? I did not think that using the travel credit meant I had to pay it back if I cancelled the card before the next year's annual fee hit. I have paid the annual fee for this card in the past..this is not my first year with the card.
I said to hold on cancelling the card for now. If I spend the $150 normally and then call back to cancel when I have a zero balance, will they still say I owe them $200? I did not think that using the travel credit meant I had to pay it back if I cancelled the card before the next year's annual fee hit. I have paid the annual fee for this card in the past..this is not my first year with the card.
Aug 8, 2017, 8:53 pm
#874
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2015
Location: BOS, YVR, ZRH
Programs: *G
Posts: 17,399
I tried to cancel my personal Platinum Charge card today because the annual fee is due soon. I have a credit on my account of roughly $150 from the annual travel credit. After a long hold, I was told that I would not be able to get that $150 refunded if I cancelled the card. The agent said something along the lines of "when you cancel, the $200 travel credit is owed back to Amex if you have already used it"
I said to hold on cancelling the card for now. If I spend the $150 normally and then call back to cancel when I have a zero balance, will they still say I owe them $200? I did not think that using the travel credit meant I had to pay it back if I cancelled the card before the next year's annual fee hit. I have paid the annual fee for this card in the past..this is not my first year with the card.
I said to hold on cancelling the card for now. If I spend the $150 normally and then call back to cancel when I have a zero balance, will they still say I owe them $200? I did not think that using the travel credit meant I had to pay it back if I cancelled the card before the next year's annual fee hit. I have paid the annual fee for this card in the past..this is not my first year with the card.
So if you have the card say, August 2016 to August 2017, if you use the travel credit for 2016 in November and then the new travel credit again in March in 2017, your 2017 travel credit WILL be clawed back if you decide to cancel before your annual fee is up.
Most likely that's what the issue here is - you've already used up your travel credit for your card year back in 2016, the 2017 will be clawed back. That'll happen even if you spend normally. (e.g. cardholder for 6 years = 6 travel credits, one per annual fee)
Same thing happened to me - when I called in with a 0 balance, they told me that they would cancel it but would have to claw back the 200 dollars and a 200 dollar charge re-appeared on my card that I had to pay.
Aug 8, 2017, 9:11 pm
#875
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: London / Los Angeles
Programs: Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond Ambassador, Marriott Platinum, Hyatt Globalist, BA Silver
Posts: 1,631
Did you use last year's travel credit? Amex appears to now be enforcing the "one travel credit per CARD year", not "one travel credit per CALENDAR year".
So if you have the card say, August 2016 to August 2017, if you use the travel credit for 2016 in November and then the new travel credit again in March in 2017, your 2017 travel credit WILL be clawed back if you decide to cancel before your annual fee is up.
Most likely that's what the issue here is - you've already used up your travel credit for your card year back in 2016, the 2017 will be clawed back. That'll happen even if you spend normally. (e.g. cardholder for 6 years = 6 travel credits, one per annual fee)
Same thing happened to me - when I called in with a 0 balance, they told me that they would cancel it but would have to claw back the 200 dollars and a 200 dollar charge re-appeared on my card that I had to pay.
So if you have the card say, August 2016 to August 2017, if you use the travel credit for 2016 in November and then the new travel credit again in March in 2017, your 2017 travel credit WILL be clawed back if you decide to cancel before your annual fee is up.
Most likely that's what the issue here is - you've already used up your travel credit for your card year back in 2016, the 2017 will be clawed back. That'll happen even if you spend normally. (e.g. cardholder for 6 years = 6 travel credits, one per annual fee)
Same thing happened to me - when I called in with a 0 balance, they told me that they would cancel it but would have to claw back the 200 dollars and a 200 dollar charge re-appeared on my card that I had to pay.
I am guessing that their terms allow this?
Aug 8, 2017, 9:17 pm
#876
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: In the air
Programs: Occasional RTW club
Posts: 6,924
Yes, I used it last year and this year. I thought that the travel credit was on an annual year basis and this was part of my decision to pay the $700 annual fee i.e. I thought that if I cancel before the second year fee hits and have used both the 2 $200 credits, then at least it has only cost me $300, rather than $700. I guess this was my mistake in understanding how it works.. kinda sucks.
I am guessing that their terms allow this?
I am guessing that their terms allow this?
Aug 8, 2017, 9:36 pm
#877
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: London / Los Angeles
Programs: Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond Ambassador, Marriott Platinum, Hyatt Globalist, BA Silver
Posts: 1,631
Their terms have always been this way. It's the referral peddlers who have always advertised it as a $400 credit, but the only reason it worked in the past was because they didn't do a good job of tracking it. I'm glad they at least chose to do it this way rather than doing it as a "on renewal, get a $200 bonus" which many cards seem to do these days.
Everything in the Terms and Conditions states that this is an ANNUAL TRAVEL CREDIT and has nothing to do with when you apply the credit in relation to the annual fee posting.
If you are willing to fight, I would suggest that you would have a 99.9% success rate at having the clawback returned
If you are willing to fight, I would suggest that you would have a 99.9% success rate at having the clawback returned
Annual Travel Credit can only be used once per calendar year towards a single travel booking of $200 or more
Aug 9, 2017, 7:22 am
#878
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: YYZ, YUL, PEK
Posts: 429
Spend the $150 normally and then cancel the card. If all goes well you should be in the clear.
The terms and conditions do say Annual Travel Credit and that's what led many to believe that you are able to get 2 x $200 Travel Credits during one membership year.
However, it appears that Amex has recently unilaterally changed their minds on this, without updating the T&Cs. Therefore the best practice right now is to avoid drawing their attention to the travel credit when cancelling the card (i.e., cancel before the second annual fee hits, don't leave a -$150 credit balance when you're cancelling, etc.)
The terms and conditions do say Annual Travel Credit and that's what led many to believe that you are able to get 2 x $200 Travel Credits during one membership year.
However, it appears that Amex has recently unilaterally changed their minds on this, without updating the T&Cs. Therefore the best practice right now is to avoid drawing their attention to the travel credit when cancelling the card (i.e., cancel before the second annual fee hits, don't leave a -$150 credit balance when you're cancelling, etc.)
Aug 9, 2017, 8:16 am
#879
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: *void
Posts: 2,408
Spend the $150 normally and then cancel the card. If all goes well you should be in the clear.
The terms and conditions do say Annual Travel Credit and that's what led many to believe that you are able to get 2 x $200 Travel Credits during one membership year.
However, it appears that Amex has recently unilaterally changed their minds on this, without updating the T&Cs. Therefore the best practice right now is to avoid drawing their attention to the travel credit when cancelling the card (i.e., cancel before the second annual fee hits, don't leave a -$150 credit balance when you're cancelling, etc.)
The terms and conditions do say Annual Travel Credit and that's what led many to believe that you are able to get 2 x $200 Travel Credits during one membership year.
However, it appears that Amex has recently unilaterally changed their minds on this, without updating the T&Cs. Therefore the best practice right now is to avoid drawing their attention to the travel credit when cancelling the card (i.e., cancel before the second annual fee hits, don't leave a -$150 credit balance when you're cancelling, etc.)
The majority of people are reporting that you will be denied a full $699 refund if you cancel after the annual fee has already posted.
But like the blogger, a full refund can happen even after the $699 fee renewal has posted to the card account, as I reported for a friend here at this post:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28350725-post650.html
Note in that older post, Smiley had reported that Amex clawed back the second $200 travel credit, even though he called to cancel BEFORE the annual fee posted. It's truly YMMV, but definitely against the odds if you wait for the annual fee to post before cancelling.
Aug 9, 2017, 9:49 am
#880
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: London / Los Angeles
Programs: Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond Ambassador, Marriott Platinum, Hyatt Globalist, BA Silver
Posts: 1,631
Agreed. The blogger (the penultimate referral peddlers) that was able to convince Amex to get back the $200 travel credit is not typical.
The majority of people are reporting that you will be denied a full $699 refund if you cancel after the annual fee has already posted.
But like the blogger, a full refund can happen even after the $699 fee renewal has posted to the card account, as I reported for a friend here at this post:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28350725-post650.html
Note in that older post, Smiley had reported that Amex clawed back the second $200 travel credit, even though he called to cancel BEFORE the annual fee posted. It's truly YMMV, but definitely against the odds if you wait for the annual fee to post before cancelling.
The majority of people are reporting that you will be denied a full $699 refund if you cancel after the annual fee has already posted.
But like the blogger, a full refund can happen even after the $699 fee renewal has posted to the card account, as I reported for a friend here at this post:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28350725-post650.html
Note in that older post, Smiley had reported that Amex clawed back the second $200 travel credit, even though he called to cancel BEFORE the annual fee posted. It's truly YMMV, but definitely against the odds if you wait for the annual fee to post before cancelling.
That said I 100% agree with your point - it is much easier to argue against (or avoid) paying a new charge of $200, than arguing to get an additional $200 of your fee refunded.
Aug 9, 2017, 10:13 am
#881
Join Date: Jul 2016
Posts: 106
Do the referral bonuses show up on your account as soon as the other person is approved or does it take some time? And is there any detail given with the bonus like the person's name or does it just say "referral bonus" or something like that?
Aug 9, 2017, 11:55 am
#882
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2015
Location: BOS, YVR, ZRH
Programs: *G
Posts: 17,399
It's been more-or-less instant for me, but you might have to wait a few weeks. And it doesn't give the person's name, just says Referral or Bonus points.
Aug 9, 2017, 6:27 pm
#883
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,784
AMEX MR = 1-2 days after his/her approval (which can be instant or few days)
SPG/Aeroplan/Air Miles = next monthly statement after his/her approval (which can be instant or few days)
Aug 10, 2017, 12:29 am
#884
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 185
Just wondering cause I need to book flights soon
Aug 10, 2017, 9:17 am
#885
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: *void
Posts: 2,408
They track how many you have made per year (calendar, I believe), so if you reached your 225K (or 15 total) on your Personal Platinum card, then that could be another reason you aren't seeing the points - good for you, if this is the case!
